First Five Fragments for Friday – Deep Freeze Edition

Your weekly offering of writing/art prompts.

1. You wake up to the sound of a Public Radio weather report that says the windchill is -20. Your first thought is….

2. About gathering images for writing: This morning, a huge crow was fluffed up and perched on the power line that runs across the back of my yard. We stared at each other for several moments before he (she?) turned his head and effortlessly flew into the neighbor’s evergreens. Another crow followed, calling in what I am sure is a complete language. This is why I look out the window for a few minutes in the morning before I turn on a television, read the paper, talk.

3. When the actual air temperature is below zero, everything outside sounds different: the peculiar squeak-crunch of packed snow underfoot or under-tire, airplanes slicing through the atmosphere overhead, the reluctance of a door hinge, the timbre of birds’ calls.

4. Ice – so unassuming in an ice cube tray, so lethal in sheets on the highway. What else has such an ability to switch between useful and deadly?

5. And the funniest, albeit controversial, holiday commercial so far this year is the Kmart commercial with men in boxers. Does this make you want to shop there? Or does it make you want to write a response?

Happy cold Friday. And R.I.P. Nelson Mandela; you did a lot of good in the world.